UN and global energy chiefs say Covid-19 crisis can be a green energy turning point

The IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, said this could only happen if ministers, such as Eamon Ryan, put cleaner energy policies in place.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned against backing fossil fuels in any Covid-19 recovery plans. File photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone/AP

Governments including Ireland's must aim to make 2019 the peak year for emissions, and capitalise on the plummeting of harmful output in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the International Energy Agency.